SPD parliamentary group leader Miersch is considering a “pension summit” – CDU sees “no sense” in it

In the dispute over the government's pension reform, the head of the SPD parliamentary group, Matthias Miersch, is proposing a pension summit.

In order to ease the blockade, it is conceivable to involve “the parliamentary groups and possibly also the prime ministers in the process” “before there is a cabinet decision,” said Miersch in an interview with “Zeit”.

Miersch could therefore imagine a kind of “Pension Prime Minister’s Conference”.

“The exact form of organization would have to be discussed, and in any case the parliamentary groups would have to be involved,” said Miersch.

He rejects an end to the pension without deductions after 45 years of contributions, which parts of the Union are calling for.

Despite all the conflicts, Miersch is confident that the federal government will not collapse prematurely: “If I rarely bet: I would bet on that.”

The situation is different than in the last months of the traffic light government, which failed in the dispute.

“I still perceive a basic trust.

At a certain point in time in the traffic lights I no longer had that: a basic trust of the forces that have to work very closely together in leadership.”

Union parliamentary group vice-president Johannes Winkel immediately rejected the suggestion from SPD parliamentary group leader Matthias Miersch.

“It makes no sense to set up a new pension commission with new actors after the comprehensive work of the commission and the political agreement.

It’s about reliability and decision-making ability,” Winkel told the German Press Agency (dpa).

The deputy parliamentary group leader in the Bundestag for labor and social affairs and chairwoman of the Junge Union pointed out that the federal government and the coalition committee had agreed before the summer break to implement the compromises recommended by the pension commission as an overall package.

The parliamentary group leaders then committed to implementing the reform package in Münster at the end of August.

“It’s time to keep your word.

It’s time to make decisions,” demanded Winkel.

In the “Zeit” interview, Miersch was also asked about the SPD’s next candidate for chancellor.

He then named three possible names: “Boris Pistorius is the most popular politician in the republic, Manuela Schwesig ran an excellent election campaign, Lars Klingbeil is an excellent finance minister.”

But he doesn't want to commit himself.

“I’m pleased that we have really good people who I would trust to take on this candidacy.”

The SPD parliamentary group leader demanded a reaction from the CDU to the election of the AfD state parliament president in Saxony-Anhalt, who may also have come into office through votes from the CDU: “I expect the federal party to demand appropriate clarification and draw conclusions from it,” Miersch continued in the “Zeit” interview.

Miersch also warns the CDU against electing Ulrich Siegmund as Prime Minister in December.

“If parts of the CDU MPs are proven to elect an AfD Prime Minister into office, that would definitely be a form of cooperation for me.”

That would violate the coalition agreement and also place a heavy burden on the federal government.

Miersch is outraged that CDU politicians are now comparing the Left with the AfD and describing both as extremist parties: “I firmly reject this equation,” he told the weekly newspaper.

The allegations of anti-Semitism against individual members of the Left worried him.

But the party as such is not extremist, he said with a view to a possible coalition between the Left, the Greens and the SPD in Berlin.

One thing is clear: “The greatest threat to democracy at the moment comes from the right, not the left.”